Category: *Bakery / Patisserie

I am always excited about the Goodwood Park Durian Fiesta and love especially their Durian Combo that they introduce at the start of the promotion. This year is no exception that I got myself these amazing cakes and pastries and not forgetting to share it with family and friends this delight.

Selfish Gene Patisserie is a brand created by folks of Selfish Gene Cafe and it is perched above Selfish Gene Cafe. The stairs leading to the Patisserie can be found on the right of the cafe.

With the word “Patisserie”, I thought they were offering cakes, I didn’t expect that they were serving plated desserts. Some have termed it as deconstructed dessert, but I still prefer the former name.

Menu

The cafe has a little Zen ambience, rather comforting and peaceful.

A total of 7 plated desserts were found on Selfish Gene Patisserie’s Menu. I was informed by the service crew that the lightest in taste was on top and it progresses to the strongest in flavour at the bottom. But I would prefer to describe it as the sourish are on top while the sweetest at the top. Beside the plated dessert, of course beverages are on the menu with tea, coffee and a few crafted beer as the highlight. The service crew has advised me that the desserts goes better with tea than coffee. So I heeded the advice on my first visit when I ordered the “Ginger”.

Ginger

The “Ginger” consisted of a ginger cake, soft and moist with a subtle ginger fragrance. On the top was a well of toffee sauce and by the side was a scoop of homemade Caramel Ice Cream that paired nicely with the cake and were not overwhelming. The crumbles provided a crunchy texture to the dish. If you prefer more ginger flavour, munch the Ginger Soft Candy either together with the cake and ice cream or at the end (which was what I did). I am not a ginger fan but I find this dessert more than acceptable. But I believe, some may find this a little too sweet.

Oolong Tea

I paired the Ginger with a Oolong Tea. The Oolong Tea has a subtle sweetness that goes well with the dessert.

Soya

On my second visit, I was recommended the Soya as the service crew said that this is something unique. I was curious to find out what was the selling point.

In this creation, there were a Matcha Ice Cream, a Tofu Cheesecake with a dashes of Red Miso together with Red Beans, Mochi and Crumbles scattered around the cake and ice cream. The uniqueness is the briny Red Miso on the Cheesecake which is akin to Salted Gula Melaka or you may prefer Salted Caramel. You need to spread it across so that the Red Miso won’t dominate the taste. The red bean was only sweetish and with the crumbles and mochi, it went really well for the dessert. It would have been perfect if the Tofu Cheesecake is smoother and the Matcha Ice Cream has a stronger Green Tea flavour.

Lemon

And on my third visit, I tried the Lemon. I was worried that it might be too sourish but it turned out perfect for me. The lemon curd went well with the cake and crumble. It resembled a Lemon Cake. The Toasted Marshmallow by the side provided some sweetness and different texture to the dish.

Coconut

My forth visit was with a friend, so I managed to tried 2 more creation, the Coconut and the Chocolate. Among the 2, I prefer the latter.

The Coconut has a Coconut Panna Cotta and Red Bean Ice Cream as the main ingredients and together with Green Jelly, Toasted Coconut Grates and Gula Melaka. The Red Bean is a little too strong and it masked all the flavours. The Coconut Panna Cotta has a nice coconut aroma and it went very well with the Gula Melaka.

Chocolate

In the Chocolate, there was a Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache (make up of both dark and milk chocolate). As always, the pair, orange and chocolate were excellent partners.

I am left with 2 more and I complete the menu. I will update the post when I do.

Olivo Bistro & Bakery was rebranded from Ren Gastronome, previously located at Paya Lebar. Now it is at the Aperia Mall at Kallang, Level 2.

Interior

The interior design of the bistro resembles of the Mediterranean Style.

Menu in Tablet

Olivo Bistro is pretty hi-tech. They provide a tablet at each table for diners to place their own order. They offer wide range of selection; pastas, pizza, sandwiches, burgers, soup, salad, dessert and etc. They serve a wide range of alcoholic drinks too.

Weekdays Promotion

If you are dinning during weekdays’ lunch, you may want to take note of the daily promotion. On each day, when you order food from the designated category, you are entitled to a free soup. But you need to remember to add it into your order. Once you select your food, you are directed to the next page, scroll down to look for “Promo Soup” and add it into your order. And once you are done, remember to proceed to order summary, to click “Confirm” so that your order is now on its way to the kitchen.

Besides the Weekdays’ lunch promo, there are also some other on-going promotions such as the Happy Hour promo and so on.

Tomato Soup

My promo soup was the Tomato Soup. It was a creamy, smooth and tangy tomato soup.

Pesto Pasta

Since I was there on a Thursday, promotion was for Pasta and Pizza, I ordered a Pesto Pasta with add-on Prawns. You can select from the list of add on. I find the dish, especially the prawns a little too salty. But what I like is the pine nuts that were added to the pasta. The nuts not only provided the crunch, the nuttiness blended very well with the pesto sauce.

Triple Chocolate Cake

I hardly end my meal without a dessert and I ordered the Triple Chocolate Cake. The three layers, top of white chocolate mousse, middle of bitter sweet chocolate mousse and bottom of dark crunch is certainly a rich cake. It is best to savour the three layers together.

Latte

Olivo Bistro didn’t have my favourite Cappuccino so I went for Latte. The coffee was a low acidity, medium to full body with nutty and chocolaty flavour.

The pricing at the Olivo Bistro was pretty reasonably with pretty decent food, coffee and desserts and the service was friendly and warm. I might pop by again to try other items.

After Les Delices, Mad About Sucre is also a French Patisserie is now open within the same vicinity, around Chinatown.

Mad About Sucre baking team is led by Chef Lena, a Le Cordon Bleu trained chef, who specialises in lovely Fondant Cake.

Fondant Cake

I was honoured and thrilled to be invited for a cake tasting session of 5 cakes by Eric and it was so sweet of Eric to extend the invitation to my companions. I bought my Mom and Sis along who are also avid cake lovers like myself.

Moulin Rouge

Mad About Sucre presented us with was a 5 course cake dessert feast. And naturally, we were served from the lightest in taste to the richest. We started with the Moulin Rouge, a burnt caramel with walnut parfait and some almond crunch in the centre, seated on a short bread pastry was amazing. It has a somewhat milky taste and the nuttiness gives a sweet finish. We were surprised by how light and lightly sweet this cake was though the ingredient is caramel. Our usual experience with caramel is SWEET but after indulging in this piece of delight, it has redefined caramel. It was absolutely awesome.

Coco Lemon Tart

Next, the Coco Lemon Tart was served. The top is a Coconut mousse sprinkled with dropping sugar sat on a sweet Lemon Tart with a shortbread crust. My sister who doesn’t like the coconut refused to try the Coconut mousse but happily went on to the Lemon Tart. This is a pretty light and refreshing cake. If you don’t like sourish Lemon Tart, like my mom, this is perfect for you. My Mom loves it.

Chocolate Raspberry Tart

Our third course of the dessert feast was the Chocolate Raspberry Tart. One of our favourite after the Moulin Rouge. This tart uses the Mexican Chocolate which are found both in the ball and the tart with different percentage of chocolate, 41% versus 66%. In the centre of the ball is a raspberry jelly while in the tart is raspberry puree. The entire cake provide different texture and chocolate experience. And importantly, the sourish raspberry balances the bitter sweet chocolate resulting in a sweetish sourish chocolaty tart.

Passione

The Passione was served before another chocolate cake. The intention was to wash the palate. There are two layers, the Passionfruit mousse and the cheesecake on top of the coconut sable sponge and the shortbread tart base, topped with a gooseberry and a cocoa nibs cracker. This is a sweetish passionfruit with nice passionfruit fragrance. The mousse was certainly very smooth.

San Domingue

And our finale, presenting the San Domingue. This sphere-shaped cake uses 77% San Domingue Chocolate with a Rum box topped on the cake. Within the sphere, it consists of chocolate mouse and another sphere of vanilla mouse with banana. We were expecting it to be a strong and rich bittersweet chocolate as it uses 77% of chocolate but it was not. It was in fact a sweet fruity chocolate flavour. The key in enjoying this cake is that you need to first eat the Rum box and follow closely with the rest of the cake. The aroma of rum which lingers in the mouth, blended with the sweetish San Domingue chocolate and together with the banana brings you to the next level of experience. If you degust only the cake without the Rum box, you won’t experience this magic. Maybe it is a good idea for Mad About Sucre to have additional Rum Chocolate Box for consumers to add-on to the purchase.

You need to consume the cake with an open mind as you may not be expecting what you are going to experience. The ingredients that sounded rich may end up subtle while the opposite is true likewise.

We fall in love with the creations from Mad About Sucre and no doubt we will be going back for more and soon too.

Les Délices, a little gem, a French Patisserie has descended upon Chinatown. It came to me as a surprise, a good one, I wouldn’t have thought or rather imagine one to be in such a Chinese populated or cultural area. If my limited French did not fail me, délices has a meaning of delicious, delight. It is so apt for such a lovely, elegant cake shop.

On the display, there were 8 types of cakes and pastries. There were 3 Choux and the remaining were cakes; 2 Chocolate selection, 2 fruity cakes and a Cheesecake. Out of the 8, I bought 4 home to share.

Lemon Strawberry Rosette

First, we tried the Lemon Strawberry Rosette. Both Lemon and Strawberry are sourish fruit so you can imagine how sour can this cake be. So if you does not like sourish stuff, this is a “No! No!” for you. It garnered only 50% of likes in my family.

Choco Nana

The Choco Nana, from the name it suggested two ingredients. The Choco refers to the Chocolate while Nana refers to the Banana. My sister didn’t degust this at all, as Banana is her enmity.

Earl Grey Milk Tea Choux

l got only a Choux. There were Matcha, Chocolate and Earl Grey Milk Tea Choux and I got the latter. The choux pastry was slightly chewy while the cream has a very nice fragrance of Earl Grey Tea. We enjoyed this pastry.

Popping Berry Cheesecake

Lastly, the Popping Berry Cheesecake. It has a lightly cheese flavour and full of berries goodness. The uniqueness about this cake is the Popping Candy, sugar-like crystals, mixed in the biscuit base, popped in the mouth with a sizzling sensation. The entire cake tasted more of a sweet berry than cheese flavour.

Interior

Les Délices offers some dine-in option as well, not a lot and so there is a bare space.

Beverage Menu

And as such, they offer beverages. The Cold Brew is getting popular. First we have it for Coffee, now we are getting it for Tea and this is on their menu. I might try it when I dine-in the next time.

Personally, I find that Les Délices offers some of the prettiest and delish cake. We enjoyed the cakes and I am hoping to see more unique creation coming from them.

I spotted Taste Better when I was on my way to Giant Hypermart at Vivo City. I was lured by them as they were selling Durian Puff. I couldn’t resist the charm but to stop by to try their product. They were very generous, they gave one whole Durian Puff for customer to try. Wow!!

Vivocity Outlet

Taste Better is based out of Johor Bahru, Malaysia with outlets not only in their home country but also in China and Indonesia. Vivo City is their first outlet in Singapore. They have a number of products; One-bite Puffs, Soft Serves, Smoothies and Coffee & Tea. Currently, at their Vivo City outlet, there are only Durian Puffs and Durian Soft Serve.

Durian Puffs

It is called One-Bite Puff as they wanted consumer to have it in one mouth because if you don’t the Durian cream will ooze out and stain your entire lips, but it is too big for my mouth.The Durian cream is rather flavourful with a more liquid consistency and light in texture. The choux pastry is also fluffy and moist. Taste Better is selling the Puff in a box of fours.

Durian Soft Serve

Currently, for their opening special, they are giving a free Durian Soft Serve with every 2 boxes of puff purchased. I couldn’t give this a missed to try the Soft Serve. Verdict? The soft serve isn’t very smooth in texture but still considerably decent and was with a good amount of Durian flavour. I did enjoy nevertheless.

Oh ya, I almost forgot to mention that they baked the pastry fresh daily at the kiosk.

*This wordpress site has moved to www.nahmj.com. For the latest update, please refer to the link.